Home Posts tagged "Dave Schmitz"

Elite Training Workshop at Cressey Performance: April 21

I'm psyched to announce that Cressey Performance will be hosting the first ever Elite Training Workshop in the Boston area on Sunday, April 21.  Presenting will be Mike Robertson, Mike Reinold, Dave Schmitz, Tony Gentilcore, Jared Woolever, and Steve Long.  Additionally, there will be a "bonus" fitness business day with Pat Rigsby and Nick Berry on Saturday afternoon, April 20.  At just $99.95, this is an outstanding value.

Click here for more information and to register!

Hope to see you there!

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Strength Exercise of the Week: 1-arm Band Rotational Row with Weight Shift

This week's strength exercise is one I learned from Dave Schmitz of ResistanceBandTraining.com.  Dave's the "go-to" guy out there when it comes to training with resistance bands, and he has a knack for coming up with innovative exercises with minimal equipment.  This is one such example that we've been utilizing more and more in the strength and conditioning programs we write.

The beauty of the weight shift is that it adds an extensive decelerative component to the exercise and allows us to integrate scapular control in whole body movement the way it occurs in athletics.  It also allows us to get a better training effect with less resistance.

I like utilizing this with our pitchers because it educates them on how to "get long" out front (improve trunk tilt at ball release) and stiffen up on the front leg at the right time.  The eccentric overload created by the band serves as a good reminder to not get lazy and go to mush on the front side.

This can also be utilized in group training settings when you want a compound exercise that folks of many different strength levels can utilize.  Simply stepping closer to the band attachment point can reduce the resistance and make it appropriate for a weaker participant without having to change the load.  

The exercise can be done with a cable as well, but I just don't think that the weight shift component works quite as smoothly in the cable scenario.

In terms of progressions, we typically teach the standing 1-arm cable row first to all our clients and athletes, as it educates them on proper interaction of the scapula and humerus during rowing.  This is an exercise we'd consider adding into strength and conditioning programs after the first 4-8 weeks of working with a client.  It's usually done either first in the training session as a power exercise, or later in the session for higher reps.

Give it a shot!

Also, if you're interested in checking out more of Dave's innovative exercises, be sure to visit EliteTrainingMentorship.com, as he's one of my co-contributors to the site and adds great content each month.

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Strength and Conditioning Stuff You Should Read: 4/6/12

Here's a list of recommended strength and conditioning resources for the week: Elite Training Mentorship - This continuing education resource we introduced last month has started off with a bang, as we've gotten a lot of great feedback.  It'll update twice per month, and the first happened yesterday.  Content came from Dave Schmitz (two in-services and two exercise demonstrations) and me (two in-services and two exercise demonstrations).  My in-services this month were "Understanding and Managing Congenital Laxity" and "Understanding the Hip Adductors."  Updates from Mike Robertson and BJ Gaddour will come later this month.  Click here for more information.

9 Strategies to Train Around Lower Body Pain - Speaking of Mike Robertson, this is a great article he had published at T-Nation this week. Pressing Considerations for the Older Lifter - This was a super-detailed post from Jim "Smitty" Smith on what the seasoned veteran of strength training programs needs to keep in mind when doing a lot of pressing. Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
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5 Reasons to Be Excited About the Future of the Fitness Industry

Growing up, my mother always told me that I had a remarkable ability to spot the good (and bad) in people; I generally could get pretty quick reads on what kind of folks I was encountering, and then choose my friends/colleague accordingly.  As a result, as I think back on it, this is probably why I never had "bad" friends: people who got into trouble or rolled with the wrong crowd.

More recently, my wife has commented on how I always seem to find the good in people. I shrug off not-so-positive nuances in their behaviors and can become friends with just about anyone.  I think this has helped me a lot as a coach, employer, and presenter.

So, I guess you could say that I'm an optimist.  In my eyes, this glass is half full.

This applies to not only my interaction with other people, but also to the way that I view the fitness industry in which I make my living.

Every day, I hear people pissing and moaning about how many things are wrong with the fitness industry:

1. The barrier to entry is too low and most personal trainers suck.

2. Heart disease is still on the rise.

3. People use too many machines and not enough free weights.

4. The functional training revolution has turned many personal training sessions into a circus act.

5. Crossfit butchers exercise technique and ignores periodization.

Cry me a river.  If you're so down on our industry, do something to change it - or just pick a new one.  I've met thousands of trainers over the years, and there is no bigger turn-off to me than when someone goes on and on about how terrible the industry is and how awful the trainers they're around are.  I've also heard people bring it up in internship and job interviews, and it's a huge turnoff that puts them in the "rejected" pile instantly.

As I've said in the past, "small hinges swing big doors," so if you're frustrated with where the industry is headed, start with yourself and what you can change to make things better.  For me, that starts with optimism.  I look at the quotes above and think:

1. That low barrier to entry has also opened doors to some ridiculously outstanding personal trainers who are changing lives every single day.  And, having more terrible personal trainers has afforded more opportunities for others to show just how good they are, comparatively speaking.

2. That means more cardiac rehabilitation jobs are opening up.  Plus, all the research on cardiovascular disease has taught us a ton on how to modify training, nutrition, and supplementation approaches for our otherwise healthy clients.  There's no way that we know as much about low carb diets nowadays if cardiovascular disease and diabetes research hadn't received so much attention and funding over the past 20 years.

3. If other facilities are relying heavily on machines, but I'm not, it's an opportunity for me to show one more stark contrast that makes Cressey Performance training a better fit.  It's one more way for me to educate someone and win them over.

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Additionally, the heavy reliance on expensive machines in the 1980s and 1990s likely gave rise to an entire industry of portable training devices like the TRX in the 21st century (remember the old business advice: if you want to be successful, do the opposite of what everyone else is doing).  Were it not for the TRX and other devices that provide similar portability and versatility, we might not be able to pull off semi-private training and bootcamp set-ups on the level that they take place in the fitness industry today.

4. The functional training revolution has also produced some outstanding coaches who effectively bridge the gap between corrective exercise and high performance training.  It's brought about more collaboration among fitness professionals and rehabilitation specialists.  And, on an industry-wide level, it's helped us to inform clients that exercise should enhance quality of life and improve the way you move, not just make you stronger, more muscular, and less fat while you suffer through pain.

5. Crossfit has also created a tremendous camaraderie among thousands of athletes, and motivated loads of people to exercise when they might have otherwise become sedentary.  They've created a competitive outlet for a lot of former high school, college, and professional athletes.  And, there are some Crossfit franchisees who actually do an outstanding job with coaching technique and catering programming to each individual's needs.  You can't just judge them all based on the garbage you see on Youtube.

I could go on and on all day, but the truth is, the folks doing the criticizing often ought to take a look in the mirror, as they're usually in need of a lot of improvements in their own right.  I'm not perfect, and neither is anybody else - and that's a great thing, as we can always find ways to get better.  To that end, in the spirit of optimism, here are five current fitness industry trends that bode well for those of us looking forward to where the next few decades will take us.

1. New fitness research every single day - For the longest time, all researchers seemed to care about was aerobic exercise, but then, in the 1990s, there was a big boom of resistance training research that continues to this day.

It's exciting to be in such a dynamic field, as it keeps you on your toes and guarantees that you'll be constantly improve if you simply attempt to stay up-to-date with new research.

2. Increased communication across disciplines - There are more opportunities than ever for professionals in the health and human performance fields to network and learn from each other, and collaborate on treatments/training for patients/clients/athletes.  Look at professional sports teams; they've gone from just having an athletic trainer in the old days, to now also having strength and conditioning coaches, physical therapists, massage therapists, nutritionists, chiropractors, sports psychologists, acupuncturists, you name it.  This same "team-oriented" approach has extended to the private sector, whether it's under one roof or simply in collaborative efforts in similar geographic areas.

3. Improved business resources - In years past, personal trainers were supposed to work long "floor hours" at big box gyms in the hopes that they could bully gym goers into personal training with them.  It pissed most people off, made the trainer look like a super sketchy used car salesman, and didn't exactly give this fitness professional an opportunity to demonstrate his expertise.  Plus, in the past, people would open gyms simply because they liked to exercise and thought it'd be cool - and most of those operations went belly up pretty quickly.  Nowadays, there are much more solid resources available to fitness professionals if they're looking to do a better job of not only building a business, but managing it.  So, without having the actual numbers in front of me, the success rates are probably higher - especially if you have #4...

4. Sustainability within a niche - As you probably know, I train a ton of baseball players; it's about 85% of our clientele at Cressey Performance.  I'm not sure that this would have been possible ten years ago.  While early youth sports specialization has been a terrible idea in the context of injuries, it has given rise to increased specialization in training to prevent injuries, and management of the injuries that are already in place.  The end result is that it is more feasible for a fitness professional to make a career out of his/her true passion.  In my case, it's been baseball.

5. Accessibility to training information - Let's face it: you probably would have not have heard of Eric Cressey (much less EricCressey.com) if it wasn't for the internet.  I'd likely still be training loads of baseball players in Hudson, MA - but I don't know that I would have as many guys coming from across the country to train with me if it wasn't for the internet.  It's made our expertise easier to perceive, and working with those players has made me a better coach faster.

That same ease of information gathering is available in a wide variety of formats.  In the old days, you had to hit up a library, buy a book out of a catalog, or visit a coach locally to observe.  Nowadays, you can order books, DVDs, webinars, podcasts, and video presentations completely online.  You can easily apply for an internship across the country, email a coach or facility you'd like to visit to observe, or pick out a seminar of interest - and then instantly book a flight, rental car, and hotel to make it happen.  You can hop on pubmed.com and search thousands of journals for specific information you want.  You can read free blogs, newsletters, and articles in areas of interest to you.  In short, you can get better faster than ever before.  A while back, I jokingly tweeted "Using the phrase 'I'm bored' is synonymous with saying 'I'm too lazy to read to educate myself in my free time.'"  The truth is that I wasn't joking, though; you can always be doing something to improve yourself professionally if you're willing to put the time and effort in.

This is one reason why I'm so psyched to be a part of Elite Training Mentorship, the online resource we introduced almost two years ago.

You get frequent updates from several contributors - Mike Robertson, Dave Schmitz, Tyler English, Vaughn Bethell, Steve Long, Jared Woolever, and me - all industry professionals who are running successful facilities.  The information covers several facets of the industry, too. You get everything from videoed staff in-services, to webinars, to sample programs, to coaching demonstrations, to articles from the contributors.  And, you get it conveniently, as you can access it from any computer, iPad, or phone.  There's no need to book a plane ticket, hotel, or rental car like you would with a regular seminar. To learn more, check out Elite Training Mentorship.

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Try Elite Training Mentorship for Just $1!

I'm psyched to announce that Elite Training Mentorship is now live!

This project has been in the works for almost a year now, and represents a great opportunity for you to receive a multi-faceted fitness education from the comforts of your own home.  Mike Robertson, BJ Gaddour, Dave Schmitz, and I all have unique specialties within the fitness industry, and we're thrilled to have this opportunity to share them with you, as we all genuinely love to teach, coach, and learn - and this resource allows us to do all these things in one convenient set-up. And, to sweeten the deal, you can sign up for Elite Training Mentorship right now for only $1 for a month to see if it's the right fit for you.  This launch special ends on Friday (3/9) at midnight, so don't delay.  I, personally, already have three staff in-services, one webinar, two exercise tutorials, and two articles available on the site - and Mike, BJ, and Dave have plenty of their own as well.  As the saying goes, "Content is King" - and we intend to deliver a lot of it each month. Check it out for yourself: Elite Training Mentorship.
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Sit in on my Cressey Performance Staff In-Service for Free

I'm psyched to announce that today, we begin the "pre-launch" phase of a project - Elite Training Mentorship - that has me very excited. I'm collaborating with Mike Robertson, Dave Schmitz, BJ Gaddour, and Pat Rigsby to create a virtual mentorship program for trainers and coaches.  We'll be filming staff in-services on various topics, going over sample programs, providing coaching tutorials, and doing Q&A.  All of us come from different backgrounds and bring unique specialties to the table, so it's excited to think about what we'll be creating with this online resource. We don't officially launch the program for a few weeks, but in the meantime, as a little sample of what's to come, I want to encourage you to check out a recent staff in-service I delivered at Cressey Performance on the topic of lower-extremity assessment.  You can get access to it HERE. I'm confident that this collaboration will become a resource that really helps to advance the industry, and we'll be using the next few days to highlight some of the expertise that will help it do just that.  So, stay tuned - but for now, don't miss out on a chance to check out this lower-extremity assessment video at no charge. Sign-up Today for our FREE Newsletter and receive a four-part video series on how to deadlift!
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